2 What is academic vocabulary?Academic vocabulary is the vocabulary critical to understanding the concepts of the content taught in schools.In identifying academic vocabulary for instruction, it is important to remember thatnot all terms are of equal importance.􀁻 Some terms are critically important.􀁻 Some terms are useful but not critical.􀁻 Some terms are interesting but not useful.

4 Why is Academic Vocabulary important?According to Marzano (2005) the strongest action a teacher can take to ensure that students have the academic background knowledge to understand the content they will encounter is providing them with direct instruction in these terms. When students understand these terms, it is easier for them to understand the information they will read and hear in class.

5 Factoids…Vocabulary assessed in first grade predicted over 30% of readingcomprehension variance in 11th grade- Cunningham and Stanovich

6 While four encounters with a word did not reliably improve reading comprehension, 12 encounters did.- McKeown, Beck, Omanson, and Pople, 1985

7 One of the most critical instructional practices a teacher can provide, particularly for students who do not come from academically advantaged backgrounds, is systematic instruction in important academic terms.- Marzano and Pickering, 2005

8 Impact of direct instruction…Research shows a student in the 50th percentile in terms of ability to comprehend the subject matter taught in school, with no direct vocabulary instruction, scores in the50th percentile ranking. The same student, after specific content-area terms have been taught in a specific way, raises his/her comprehension ability to the 83rd percentile.- Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986

9 Marzano’s 6 Steps to Vocabulary Instructionshown to be highly effectiveThis strategy works at every grade level, fromkindergarten to high school.It provides multiple exposures to a word in a variety of contexts and is most effective when all the steps are used. Employing the whole process promotesstudent achievement much more effectively than using any step individually.- Marzano 2009

10 (First 3 steps – introduce and develop initial understanding.)Marzano’s Six Step Strategy forAcademic Vocabulary Instruction(First 3 steps – introduce and develop initial understanding.)1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.2. Ask students to restate the description or explanation in their own words. (The results are not as strong when students copy the teacher’s explanation instead of generating their own.)3. Ask students to construct a picture, pictograph, or symbolic representation of the term. (This step is crucial. When students do this step well, achievement soars.)Steps 1-3 ensure that the term is introduced and that the students have developed an initial understanding of it.

11 (Last 3 steps – Shape and sharpen understanding.)4. Engage students in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in vocabulary notebooks. (This step should be done every other week – alternate with Step Five.)5. Ask students to discuss the terms with one another.(This step should be completed every other week – alternate with Step Four.)6. Involve students in games that enable them to play with the terms. Games engage students at a high level and have a powerful effect on recall.(This step should be done once a week.)Steps 4-6 ensure that students have multiple exposures and experiences with the terms over time to help deepen their understanding.

15 Checking in on Student Progress (formative assessment)Level 4:I understand even more about the term than when I was taught.Level 3:I understand the term and I’m not confused about any part of what it means.Level 2:I’m a little uncertain about what the term means, but I have a general idea.Level 1:I’m very uncertain about the term. I really don’t understand what it means.

16 Things to ponder…How do I provide rich and varied language experiences that supportlearning and using vocabulary?Do I spend time to teach individual words?What type of word-learning strategies have I taught to my students to help them increase their vocabularies?In what ways do I develop word consciousness? How does the culture of my classroom show a motivation and appreciation for word learning; in what ways do I support and encourage students in making a commitment to acquiring word knowledge, and do I share my own thirst for learning new words?

17 The Journey… Each fall, monarch butterflies in Maine beginan unbelievable journey to a hilltop in Mexico.How do they do it? They focus on the goal,not the difficulties. Each day they take theirbearings and set off, allowing their instinctsand desire to steer them. They accept whatcomes; some winds blow them off course,others speed them along. They keep flyinguntil, one day, they arrive.Monarch butterflies are the only insect that migrates to a warmer climate that is 2,500 miles away each year

About project

Feedback

To ensure the functioning of the site, we use cookies. We share information about your activities on the site with our partners and Google partners: social networks and companies engaged in advertising and web analytics. For more information, see the Privacy Policy and Google Privacy &amp Terms.
Your consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.